Judge Sides With Landlord After Tenant Tech Snafu

A state judge ordered a previously-approved eviction to proceed against an Adeline Street tenant who claimed he was up to date on rent, but failed to submit an electronic copy of the receipts in advance of the court hearing.

State Superior Court Judge Claudia Baio issued that decision at hearing this week in an ongoing housing court case between local landlord Galina Zalman and tenant Arthur Moore.

Zalman, a self-represented landlord speaking through a Russian-language interpreter named Elina Katsman, sued Moore, an Adeline Street tenant, in October 2020 over unpaid rent.

Zalman alleged that Moore stopped paying the $700 monthly rent in February 2020, and was asked to leave on March 18, 2020.

In response, Moore claimed that all rent was paid and that the eviction was a direct result of officials from New Haven’s Livable City Initiative visiting the house and determining that there were sewage issues.

For her part, Zalman denied those claims entirely. She instead claimed that Moore attacked her over the money and threatened her after giving her $1,000 in the hopes of avoiding eviction court.

Zalman filed rental receipts, photos of her injuries, and police reports as evidence in her favor.

When Moore missed a key court hearing earlier this year and failed to provide an excuse for why he didn’t show up, the judge ruled in favor of Zalman, granting the eviction to proceed.

Click here to read a previous article about this case.

After that initial judgment, Moore filed a motion to reopen the case on the grounds that he was up to date on rent, and had the receipts to prove it. (Zalman continued to deny that she had been paid anything by Moore in well over a year.)

Little of this debate made it into a court hearing held Tuesday, however, which was strictly focused on whether or not Moore had a basis for requesting that the case be reopened after he failed to appear at the previous hearing.

In order to successfully argue for a motion to reopen the case, Moore would need to prove both that he has a solid defense to argue in court, and that there was ​“reasonable cause” for him not raising it at the time of the hearing.

Moore claimed that ​“my rent’s been paid” since he moved in, and that he had the receipts next to him to prove it. But the Adeline Street tenant did not submit those receipts to the court as formal exhibits in advance of this most recent hearing.

So, according to Judge Baio, they could not be used as evidence..

“I didn’t have no idea I had to do that, no knowledge that I had to go through the phone and submit paperwork ahead of time,” Moore said, to no sympathy from Judge Baio.

Moore told the court that he was hospitalized for a period of time. When the judge learned that that time did not coincide with the previous hearing date, she said that was not a valid defense.

“The defense is claiming that rent is current, but has nothing to offer as to why this wasn’t raised in a timely manner,” Baio said. ​“The record reflects that the defendant was served with a notice to quit, and no dispute to that has been presented to the court.”

On those grounds, Baio said, the motion to open was denied, and the eviction will continue as originally ordered.

Zalman told the Independent that, while the decision might seem like good news, she’s still left with unpaid bills and confusion as to what happens next. Click here to read a previous story about the case, and about Zalman’s struggles as a small-time local landlord trying to survive during the pandemic.

“I need more from the court,” she said. ​“I [need to] pay bill, and it’s very difficult.”

More info on related issues, organizations:

Local Learn: Connecticut Coalition To End Homelessness
National Act: National Alliance To End Homelessness
Local Act: Empower underserved communities in Connecticut
Local Learn: New Haven community wealth-building initiatives
National Act: Organizations that support community development